Brian Freeman - The Cold Nowhere

‘Specifically, I’m interested in the one you sold to Margot Huizenfelt.’

‘Oh.’ Lenny frowned and pursed his lips like Mick Jagger. ‘Huizenfelt? She the lady who went missing last month?’

‘That’s her.’

‘Okay, sure. XLT, cinnamon metallic, comfort package. Fantastic ride. I remember the truck more than the customer. That’s the way it usually is. Real shame to have that vehicle sitting in an impound garage.’

‘The real shame is that its owner is missing and possibly dead,’ Serena said.

‘Well, yeah, of course.’

‘Margot bought the Explorer two days before she disappeared. Did you talk to her while she was here?’

‘I talk to everyone who buys one of my vehicles, Ms. Dial. Her lead salesman was Phyllis Bowen, but I thanked Ms. Huizenfelt personally for patronizing my establishment. That’s my rule, been that way ever since I opened. I may not see customers for a decade or more, but they’ll come back to me sooner or later, and in the meantime they’ll send me their family and friends. That’s the way it works. It’s a service business.’

‘Margot?’ Serena repeated.

‘What about her? What do you want to know?’

‘What did you two talk about?’ Serena asked.

‘We talked about what a great truck she was buying.’

‘Anything else?’

‘Not much. I’m a politician, Ms. Dial, and Ms. Huizenfelt is a reporter. As far as I’m concerned, everything I say around a reporter is on the record, so I’m mighty careful about what I say. As I recall, Ms. Huizenfelt spent a lot of time admiring some of the things I have here in my office, and she made a few comments about the money I’ve earned in my life. I gather she isn’t a big fan of people with money, and that’s okay. I started out with nothing and now I’m one of the wealthiest people in the state. I got here through hard work and street smarts, and anyone else in this country is welcome to do the same. Meanwhile, you won’t find me bitching about the pensions we pay for public servants such as yourselves. You earn every dime, and Jesus loves you for what you do.’

Stride leaned forward and put his elbows on Lenny’s desk. ‘We were thinking that Margot had other things on her mind when she talked to you,’ he said.

‘And what would that be, Jon?’

‘Prostitution.’

Lenny rolled his eyes. ‘You’re still on that wild goose chase? I thought K-2 would have talked to you about that. Look, I’ll be the first to say that I have a fairly libertarian philosophy about what a woman chooses to do with her own body. My feeling is, if a woman wants to make money with the parts that God gave her, I say more power to her. As for the men, that’s between them and their wives. I don’t really see that it’s any of my business. Or yours.’

‘Solicitation is still a crime,’ Stride said.

‘So is murder,’ Serena added.

Lenny took his feet off the desk. He gave up on his salesman’s face and adopted his politician’s face instead. He could be intimidating when he wanted to be. ‘Are you suggesting I had something to do with this lady’s disappearance? She accused me of buying hookers and I got rid of her? That’s crap. You drag my name into this and you will regret it.’

Stride glanced at Serena. ‘I don’t think Jesus loves us anymore.’

‘I guess not,’ she said.

‘Look, Jon, we’ve butted heads over the years,’ Lenny went on. ‘Doesn’t mean I don’t like you. I do. You and me, we’ve got a lot in common. We’re both Duluth lifers. We both lost women we love. We’ve both been hunting with K-2, and we know the police chief of this great city couldn’t shoot a shotgun straight to save his life. When I come down hard on you, it’s not personal. It’s politics. And in this case, I’m telling you both that you are making a mistake, and I don’t want it to blow up in your faces.’

‘We’re not here to accuse you of anything, Mr. Keck,’ Serena said. ‘We’ve just got a chain of events that makes us uncomfortable.’

‘How so?’ Lenny asked.

‘Let me spell it out for you. A few months ago, Margot wrote an article about an under-age prostitute. From what we know, this girl has been in bed with at least one man with serious resources, someone who wouldn’t want the world to find out he’s been sleeping with a teenage girl. He may not be the only one. In fact, there are rumors of a prostitution ring operating among wealthy professionals in the city. Have you heard anything about that?’

‘Not a word,’ Lenny replied. His face was stone.

‘Just over a month ago, Margot came here to buy a new truck. She didn’t go to a dealership close to home. She came to you. Two days later, she began trying to find Cat, the same girl she interviewed a few months ago. In fact, she was with Cat’s aunt on a Saturday evening in Duluth, and the kid who saw her there, Curt Dickes, called you when he saw Margot that night. The very next day, Margot disappeared, and someone started coming after Cat. Just a few days ago, someone chased Cat as she was leaving a party that you hosted. Do you see why we have questions?’

‘Sure I do,’ Lenny agreed. ‘It sounds fishy to me, too. All I can tell you is that Margot bought an SUV from me. That’s all. As for this unfortunate young girl, I’ve never met her, and I sure as hell have never slept with her.’

‘She was at your party,’ Stride said.

‘When I left that party, the only girl there was my own saleswoman, Phyllis, and Phyllis is not exactly the hooker type. If this Cat arrived later, or any other girls, it’s none of my concern. I’d strongly suggest that it not be any of your concern either, Jon. Call that friendly advice, okay? When I have to, I can play dirty, because politics is a dirty game. Before you play against me, think about who’s living under your roof.’

‘You’re well informed,’ Stride said.

‘Better believe it, Jon.’

‘So you didn’t arrange for any girls at the party? You don’t know who they were?’

‘No and no.’

‘Curt Dickes says he set it up for you.’

‘Well, if Curt and one of my boys spread a few bucks around to grease the party, they did it without telling me. Anyway, I’m sure it wasn’t for sex. My boys are smooth. They don’t need to pay for it.’

‘What about Curt? What’s your relationship with him?’

‘I’ve known the boy for years. I know his family. Good people. Curt’s had some tough breaks, and I help kids like that whenever I can. I haven’t forgotten that I grew up with nothing. I pay Curt to hand out fliers in Canal Park. He sends customers my way. That’s the extent of our relationship.’

‘He’s driving around in a brand new Fusion that you gave him,’ Stride pointed out. ‘Is that standard compensation for handing out fliers?’

‘I loaned him a car for a few days. Big deal. His own beater is in my shop. Look, Curt’s a boy who likes to brag. If someone brags about my cars, that’s a good thing. You shouldn’t take him seriously about anything else.’

‘Why did he call you when he saw Margot driving one of your trucks?’ Serena asked. ‘He says she’d been asking around about rich men and prostitution in the city. It’s interesting that he’d feel the need to warn you about that.’

‘Curt gets some strange ideas in his head, but I’m a big boy, Ms. Dial. I can take care of myself. I already told you, Margot and I talked about her new vehicle. Whatever happened to her after that had nothing to do with me. Now if you want to talk about upgrading that convertible of yours, I’m happy to spend the rest of the afternoon with you. Otherwise, I still need to hit another tee shot at Pebble and try to keep it away from the goddamned water.’